[Negative bone scintigraphy in a child with acute osteomyelitis]

Diagnosis of acute osteomyelitis in childhood is conventionally established by a combination of clinical symptoms and results of inflammation parameters in blood and blood culture, plain radiography, bone scintigraphy and ultrasound. High sensitivity of bone scintigraphy enables it to be positive in the majority of cases, especially when clinical symptoms and blood tests are inconclusive. We present a case of a nine month old girl with an established diagnosis of vertebral osteomyelitis. Her two bone scintigraphies were negative despite obvious destruction of vertebra L5 and S1, documented by plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI should be used when conventional examinations are inconclusive.